Fig. 3 shows the hourly averaged water levels (m above/below mean water

level) measured at each location from 10 February – 05 March 2018. The

timing of low and high water at each site is generally the same but the

relative water levels measured between stations varied over the course of the

study. Some high water levels recorded at City Dock were higher than the

corresponding high water levels recorded at the NOAA tide gauge and Onset

station, others were lower. A similar variation is seen in low water levels,

with some lows measured at City Dock being higher and some being lower

than those measured at the other sites. Figs. 4a and 4b shows the difference

in the measured water levels between the RBR sensor at City Dock and the

Onset HOBO logger and the NOAA tide gauge, respectively.

Comparison of Relative Water Levels at the U.S. Naval Academy and

Annapolis City Dock in Response to Local Meteorological Forcing Conditions

Midshipman 1/C Paul H. Spalding and Midshipman 1/C Ben R. McGrath, USN, Class of 2018

Advisor(s): Dr. Joseph P. Smith, Instructor Alexander Davies, Instructor Andrew Keppel, and Mr. Luis Rodriguez

Study Area and Methods

DiscussionResults

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to City of Annapolis Office of Emergency

Management and the City of Annapolis Harbormaster’s Office for allowing

us to conduct research at City Dock.

Abstract

Continuous water levels measurements were collected at City Dock,

Annapolis, MD from 10 February – 05 March 2018 and compared to those

collected at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

National Ocean Service’s (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic

Products and Services (CO-OPS) Annapolis Tide Gauge, (Station ID:

8575512) located at Hendrix Oceanography Laboratory (HOL) at the U.S.

Naval Academy (USNA). Data was collected over the same time period to

investigate differences in recorded water levels between the two locations.

Meteorological data from a local, custom weather station (Onset HOBO)

was used to identify potential forcing conditions that could explain noted

water level differences between these two sites. Results will be used to

identify conditions where there may be a higher (or lower) risk of nuisance

flooding at Annapolis City Dock than what can be predicted using the

NOAA water level data measured at USNA.

Conclusions

• Water levels measurements collected

from 10 February – 05 March 2018

showed differences in the relative high

and low water levels at City Dock,

Annapolis, MD as compared to those

collected at the NOAA/NOS/CO-OPS

Annapolis tide gauge at the USNA

• Synoptic-scale wind forcing is likely

the primary factor contributing to the

observed differences in water levels

• Future research will better quantify

the observed water level differences

and the factors contributing to

nuisance flooding at City Dock,

Annapolis, MD (Fig. 7)

In addition to water levels observations made by the NOAA tide gauge

located in HOL, water levels were measured from 10 February – 05 March

2018 at Annapolis City Dock using an RBR-Solo water level sensor (1

sample/second) and near the USNA Visitors Center using an Onset HOBO

water level sensor (1 sample/minute) Fig. 1 shows deployment locations. The

HOBO water level sensor was co-located with an Onset weather station that

recorded wind direction, wind speed, air temperature, and precipitation. Fig.

2 shows instrument set-up and deployment, and an example of a nuisance

flooding event at City Dock during this study. For analysis, all observations

were hourly averaged and demeaned to show differences with respect to the

mean water level at a given location which allows for direct comparison.

The preliminary results suggest that synoptic-scale wind forcing (Fig. 5)

likely explains the observed water level differences between City Dock and

the NOAA tide gauge in the HOL. Higher and lower high low water levels

and higher and lower low water levels observed at City Dock appear to be

related to the wind direction and vary on the meteorological synoptic scale.

While more research is required to establish and quantify this relationship,

this result could potentially help explain discrepancies between water level

forecasts/observations centered upon the NOAA tide gauge location and the

flooding experienced at City Dock. Multiple nuisance flooding events

occurred during this study, some related to storm events passing the region.

Figure 1. Map of

study area in

Annapolis, MD.

Triangles mark the

location of the NOAA

tide gauge (black); the

Onset HOBO weather

station and water level

sensor (green); and the

RBR-Solo water level

sensor. Map inset

from U.S Geological

Survey (2018).

Figure 1. (A) MIDN 1/C Spalding and Mr. Andrew Keppel setting-up the Onset HOBO

weather station and water level sensor; (B) MIDN 1/C McGrath next to the Onset

HOBO weather station; (C) RBR Solo water level sensor, and; (D) MIDN 1/C McGrath

standing in the flooded street at City Dock, Annapolis during a nuisance flooding event.

Figure 4. Observed differences in the demeaned hourly averaged water levels measured

at the NOAA station and: (A) The RBR Solo water level sensor at City Dock and (B)

the Onset HOBO water level sensor on the USNA Yard. Red shaded areas indicate

times when the remote station levels were higher than those measured at the NOAA tide

gauge and blue shaded areas indicate times when they were lower. Hourly NOAA tide

gauge water levels are shown by the black line as a reference.

Figure 5. Wind speed and direction measured by the HOBO Onset from 10 February

through 05 March.

Figure 6. Precipitation measured at the Onset

weather station from 10 February – 05 March 2018.

Figure 7. Picture of City Dock during

a nuisance flooding event in October

2017 (Belt, D. Annapolis Patch,

2017. Annapolis Streets Flooded

Tuesday; Flood Advisory Until 2

AM: https://patch.com/

maryland/annapolis/annapolis-streets-

closed-severe-flooding, accessed 03

January 2018.)

Figure 3. Hourly averaged water levels (m from mean water level) measured at the

NOAA tide gauge (black line), the RBR-Solo water level sensor at City Dock (blue line),

and the Onset HOBO water level sensor on the USNA Yard (green line).

The largest of these events

occurred during a Nor-Easter on

02-03 March 2018 which

resulted in both anomalously

high and low water levels.

Precipitation (Fig. 6) and

localized integrated runoff may

also explain some of the

differences, but our results

suggest wind forcing is the

primary driver.

Likely Sensor Reset